If you enjoy this video, give it a like and maybe also leave a comment to assist us with the algorithm! Fix Notes: -At 8:00, disregard "Demo 1" as my source seemed to have called this "real" footage but wasn't that actually.

Man... that meeting with Yuji Naka sounded heartbreaking... I really feel for the Sonic Mars dev.

Sonic X-treme has always been one of the most interesting canceled games to me and I’m surprised I’ve never seen that first Sonic Mars demo footage despite seeing the rest of them before. Loved this video, hoping for more Sonic soon! 😁

In retrospect, I wish they would have done a 2D Sonic game like Knuckles' Chaotix or the later Sonic Mania. It wouldn't have been the next-gen experience they wanted, but at least it would have been a flagship title they could have put out on the 32X considering they never even finished the development hellscape of Sonic X-treme for the Saturn.

That 3D Sonic game utilizing the Doom engine sounds like it could have been a real winner, a shame they didn't follow through on that idea.

I haven't seen any of this concept art, this is fascinating.

It’s funny how Sonic was made to appeal to Americans but Sega of Japan didn’t want Americans making a Sonic game

20+ years later "...oh thank goodnesss we changed the STI name"

I don't consider Yuji Naka a god or anything but I do agree the game looked ass. Would have been Sega's bubsy 3D. Sonic Adventure felt more right and it needed that extra power. It's a game you can enjoy somewhat even today especially the less buggy Dreamcast release. Meanwhile do you think anyone would've remembered this game if it came out? On the 32X or Saturn? Probably not. Work ethics on Sega of America back then looked rough tho I suppose Sega of Japan didn't help with their million add-ons and consoles releasing every 2 years. It wasn't surprising at all when Sega went third party. I really wanted a Dreamcast when I was 7 but it disappeared quickly once the PS2 and Game Cube came out which it what I ended up getting instead once we had money for it. A bit sad but that's how it goes.

Uhh, the "Demo 1" you have shown is an edited version of gameplay from an old demo of my fangame, Project 32X - Sonic Mars

I will never get over the name "Tiara Boobowski" for a Sonic game. Even if it wasn't intentional, they HAD to know what was wrong there lol

This idea of a video game set inside of a video game is an odd choice. Maybe it's a built-in excuse if the game sucks. It's like, "We made this suck on purpose because Dr. Robotnik wanted to torture Sonic." I think Superman 64 did the same thing.

The fact that no fan projects have done a Mardi Gras level greatly disappoints me.

Damn I would have LOVED a Mardi Gras themed level of Sonic. Like casino night except with more debauchery and seafood

The biggest flaw was the game was originally was planned for the 32X, which failed in the market as AddOn Technology was released so late in the Genesis life that the system was Dead On Arrival as soon as gamers knew of the SEGA Saturn. They should have just focused on the Saturn in the first place. Another reason why the SEGA 32X caused far more problems for the American Team and caused SEGA of America far more damage than they had expected. Also Donkey Kong Country being a game released in late 1994, can't be overstated enough how much of that game's success was the death-nail for SEGA and their Genesis at the time.

Thanks for using SRB2 as an example haha!

There are so many ideas that would later go on to be used in modern Sonic games , the major one being the cyber space with Frontiers. Great video !!

I remember reading about this story years ago, I also remember my disappointment there weren't many new Sonic games on the 32X (Knuckles Chaotix sorta counts) and the Saturn (Sonic R's nice but not a console-seller, and the others were rereleases of older games)... But honestly, maybe it was best "Sonic Mars" and "Sonic X-Treme" both got cancelled, considering they were treading dangerously close to Bubsy 3D territory in terms of graphics and primitive gameplay mechanics, especially after Mario 64 blew everything else out of the water at the time. Would've been nice to see SatAM getting official representation in the games outside of Sonic Spinball, but I suppose it was not to be :/

Sega never fails to run itself into the ground. Everywhere in seemingly every team

I knew about Sonic Xtreme, but I had no idea that there was a Sonic Mars project before.

I'm interested in how the development of Knuckles' Chaotix fits into this story, since it plays like a traditional Sonic game.

One of the great questions of gaming is whether Saturn (or PS1 or N64 for that matter) could handle a full-3d Sonic action-adventure platformer game that plays how you'd expect a Sonic game to play. Even a homebrew project created today would change the discussion of why a 3d Sonic adventure never materialized during 5th gen

This really WAS a rough transition into 3D! Great Video btw

This was nuts to hear how many levels were being considered

I still hope we get the fan recreation we Sonic fans all deserve one day when/if beta elements ever surface and are dumped...

I fkn love Sonic Spinball.

It's a shame we didn't have a new Sonic for the Saturn, when they could have gone for something different instead of imitating everyone else. I think the best thing could have been to port the Sonic CD engine to the new console, then add elements from Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles. With that they could have released a true remake of the Genesis games and had time to release something new.

Yuji Naka is my favorite power hungry self centered smegeater at SEGA. What about you guys?

Shadow world Shadow cracks smile* Levels sound really cool that moment Of man i hope that would repurposed in a new game

"It is an fan recreation"

Hehehehe. Boobowski. Good video, dude. Where are you from? Your way of emphasizing words sounds exactly like this hilarious weird old flash cartoon "Almost Bendy" 11:48 did they really call her a stallion? lol did they not know.. that's a boy..

3:56, XD I'm sorry you felt that way. The 90's was something else. I wouldn't have it any other way. 4:51, anyone up for Acme Loo's AcmeBowl tournament?! We're all game! 9:13, good luck? Good LUCK? GOOD LUCK?!!! Oh...THANK YOU, Naka-san! Thanks for your...AMAZING WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT....NOT. Is there ever a reason why SEGA's not making consoles anymore this day? 11:22, that looks pretty cool. 12:06, oh dear man...this is heart-wrenching. This is what you made, Yuji Naka.

7:01 "This game just wouldn't cut it for the team" Shame when you know that sonic robo blast 2 (the game shown) is one of the best fangame ever made

I love watching your video whenever a new one comes out I'm gonna watch it

Dean lester looks like with egon from ghostbusters

thanks to the progress of tomb raider on 32x (and even Doom Resurrection), the possibility of a sonic Mars in its original concept (with those mentioned zones and the SatAM crew) is certainly looking to be a lot more possible. you see folks reworking things like Zelda64 all the time and other interesting bits of programming, someone is bound to pick up this task and deliver the Sonic Mars we never got.

Bro really sad: I ain't talking about Sonic Xtreme it's too much of a long story

What's the background music name? Is it from Minish Cap?

Your shots of sega of americas building look suspiciously like the sega Europe building in London!

Ah Sonic Mars. The story of a game that never was, but yet keeps on giving lol 😅

Never heard of this. I'm sure fans are already working on making this into a real game. How are there still more hidden Sonic games being dug up in 2024?

I know it was just in prototype phase but that Sonic Mars looked like it would have just been an ugly mess. I remember being excited about Sonic Xtream back in the day and buying Sonic 3D Blast for the saturn after it was released. Boy talk about a let down. I hated it so much I took it back to the store. Biggest complaint is it had no save support. By the Saturn era every game should have some sort of save support.

Sonic is only a good idea as a side scroller.

Sonic Mars and then what Knuckles M and M's?

It's a shame that Sega has such a divided history. I'm sure the situation isn't any prettier with Nintendo and their American branches. But I'd like to imagine that if the people on both sides got their head's out of their butts, they'd truly rival Nintendo to this day. Now it just seems like Sega is constantly trying to play catch-up. And these types of interactions are likely to blame. But yeah, I also don't think it would have been a great idea to release those early builds. Nevermind trying to compare it to DKC, it should at least try and rival its biggest competitor Mario. Both in controls and visuals. I can't really fathom why anyone would want to play a 3D Sonic game that has artificial linearity baked into how Sonic moves. He should be just as free to move around as Mario. And regrettably, I do believe they were working within very strict confines. But they really needed to at least try and compete with the N64 and its ability to produce environments like Banjo, Mario, etc. And considering how great Sonic feels to control in Sonic Adventure, it's really hard to look back and see just where all that was coming from. It feels super jarring. But I am grateful that we got Sonic Adventure in spite of everything Sonic's first 3D outing had to go through. A whole 2 years behind Mario, but definitely a lot more to show for with its style. People like to contend that the controls are iffy, but I would disagree. Its my favorite Sonic to control in the series, and I wish they'd refine it for more titles. It is kind of cool in a weird way though how these are forms of lost media. Not that I would want to play these things in the slightest. But they are really great showcases of early ideas and concepts around the 90s, and are like a little slice of that era.

This overall was a very complicated topic. Thank you for trying to cover this your best and really isn't covered as much as you and others cover it

Left reformed the sonic team? This is why i so at sonic and knuckles. Lol

4:44 Doesn’t that weird creature at the bottom look like Redman from One Night At Flumpty’s to anyone else?

It's hilarious how they hatted the ideia of linear level but that was the right choice Sonic team made exactly that with sonic adventure Just show how they didn't know what they were doing

i always thought his name is pronounced Mark Seeerny not Keerny

Sonic mars aka sonic extreme(the final name based on all the merch that actualy got released back then!)

That 3D Sonic game based on the Doom engine looks cool and similar to the 3D like special zone in the prior sonic games. A missed opportunity and could have been called Sonic Doom, capitalizing on the doom game popularity and sonic boom, Guile's atttack in street fighter, and they could have given sonic ability to throw rings as a power just like Guile but that would bounce off of surfaces and could be caught and recovered, plus as the doom word suggests it wouod br about saving the world from Dr Robotbik cuz isnt it always about that?

3:58 WAIT! SALLY AND BUNNIE WERE PLAYABLE!?!?!? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I wish this came out and had a good development cycle. 5:20 That’s disappointing, but not shocking. They would’ve had to balance between 6 characters. But still, I would’ve loved to play as Sally and Bunnie. Heck, just having them in a game makes me sooooooooooo happy.

Aun estoy esperando mi Sonic en 3D para Sega Saturn

Sonic mars turned into sonic extreme

These are the vides I enjoy watching

times PS4/5 "dreams" Do you have ideas for your games?

cool video..keep up

You forgot to mention Amy rose was one of the characters planned to be in sonic mars as well.

Man, Sonic can never catch a break... lol

Lol everything that could go wrong went wrong poor Sonic Mars

As much as I like the 32X for what there is of offer on it, it should have never happened. I doubt a proper mainline Sonic game in 3D, if they at all could have pulled it off well, would have moved the needle on the add-on's sales all that much. People were turned off a bit by the Sega CD and then were turned off completely when the 32X launched and the Saturn very quickly after, that's too much hardware to throw at people in such a short window and for so much money.

Thinking About Sonic Mars Has it been release In the mid 90s The fact that They were Trying to Use corporate elements from the Sonic Satam Really Tell Me How Sega of America Were trying to push The Freedom fighter To be Canon in the mainline Games Which to Me is interesting Because If this game was to take place In the mainline canon The sonic series would have been completely different Series Then it is Today For One Things The Game Would Have been first Ever 3D sonic games Not Only That But I Also Wonder How The Satam elements And Characters Would have Affected Future Sonic Games And the fact That Mobius was Also In the Plot Also Tell me That Sega of America was Trying to Make Sonic Home Planets Mobius Canon But Stil It really is Weird How They Gonna To make The Sonic Game Based On the Sonic Cartoon Can you imagine If Nintendo Made the Mario And Zelda Games Based On the Old DIC Cartoon That would have been pretty Weird But interesting

I WISH THIS CAME OUT FROM A GOOD DEVELOPMENT!!! I LOVE THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS!!!

I wonder what would happen if Sonic Xtreme/Mars actually came out Would Sonic Adventure still exist? Would Modern Sonic exist?

Interesting story to bring Sonic in 3d. It seems like the project was meaningless, working on a 32x, not a wise choice. Should take the project to the Saturn, more 3d capable. It's funny, I used to play Deluxe Paint 4 on Amiga 500. Do a lot of animation and sprites design. I didn't have internet back then, I made my own 2d NES Metroid animation. I always wanted to make my own games during that time. But I was young in my early minor. When Zelda 64 was being developed, I didn't get any Nintendo Power magazine or VHS videos, so I used Deluxe Paint 4 to make 2d animation to look 3d model of Link swing his sword and running animation

Love the video but the stock video transitions kill it for me.

In hindsight, dropping the SatAM setting is a good thing clause that might mean that future sonic games would be forced to follow that continuity, meaning we might get shirtless Robotnik in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

Im kinda wish they would retry these cancel games with the technology now they could make the games better then they could be

Please make a Sonic Extreme video

Feh, everyone knows that Sonic Mercury is the best Scout anyway

Of you are gonna use Srb2 footage, atleast get some of 2.2

Yuji Naka got what he deserved when he got caught being a slimeball doing insider trading then if you ask me. 😏

from whence did you gather this information

I love your videos

Sonic jupiter

You know, he created some of my favourite games and was a programming genius but uh . . . Yuji Naka is an asshole

Mark Cerny (SIR-KNEE)

Cool

“Western STI developers” Sounds like my friends and I during our college days.

Pin this to be a reminder that SEGA died as a hardware developer because it thought it was a good idea to vomit hardware like there was no tomorrow. The CD, the 32x, Saturn, Dreamcast. Too much, too early. Well in the case of the Dreamcast, too LATE. GC and PS2 were on their way and Dreamcast was gonna die horribly. And that's what happened. There's also the fact they starting fighting with themselves... Sega of America and Sega of Japan were basically the same company, but the two departments didn't want to cooperate. Only Sega of Europe was left the most reasonable one, making games and localizing them... It was their only normal department while the others were like 2 dumb little children.

0:31 who is Mark Kerny? I think you meant Cerny?

BOOBOWSKI 😂

Boobowkai haha

0:30 - Mark Cerny (pronounced SERN-ee, rhymes with journey) 😊

6:53 "A free roaming 3d game" - Sonic Frontiers could have been exactly that. Well, technically it is. Unfortunately it is such an unfinished mess..

Mark cerny pronounced :Ser-nee

If Sega had me around, they'd have cancelled Bug!, Clockwork Knight, and other games in favor of making a Sonic game at launch. Anyone who thinks they're bigger than the company and project can either shut up and check their ego at the door or I'll show them the door and wish them well. That includes Yuji Naka. There would be no infighting under my watch. Also, I'd have cancelled the 32X outright and gone right to the Saturn. All games for the 32X would either be moved to the Saturn or cancelled. And I'd have had the techies streamline the Saturn so it's easier to program games for. Sega shot themselves in the foot by making the Saturn so complicated. Backward compatibility with the Genesis and Sega CD libraries was also a must.

first

Sonic mars would have saved the Sega.

Sonic was never good